Del. Senator Proposes Panic Exits in Schools

[longnecker]

MARYDEL, Del. (AP) - A Delaware state senator says he supports installing "panic exits" in schools that students and teachers could use in the event of emergencies.
The proposal from Marydel Republican Dave Lawson comes one week after a gunman at a Connecticut elementary school killed 20 children and 6 staff members.
Lawson, a former state trooper, said that emergency doors that open only from the inside might be the safest way to leave a classroom if there's an attack, fire or bomb threat.
He wants to speed up research into building escape doors in ground-floor classrooms, and hopes a resolution that he plans to introduce will lead to legislation funding construction of the specialized doors.
http://www.wboc.com/story/20411266/d...its-in-schools

[motherof3]

Don't they already have something like this installed in EVERY building.........they call them EMERGENCY exits. Don't get me wrong, those little babies being killed makes me absolutely sick to my stomach, but when are people going to get it that you can't plan for EVERY scenario. You just can't. As horrible as it is, as long as there are nut jobs and evil there are going to be tragedies. You can't have a plan to deal with madness, you just can't.

[longnecker]

Don't they already have something like this installed in EVERY building.........they call them EMERGENCY exits. Don't get me wrong, those little babies being killed makes me absolutely sick to my stomach, but when are people going to get it that you can't plan for EVERY scenario. You just can't. As horrible as it is, as long as there are nut jobs and evil there are going to be tragedies. You can't have a plan to deal with madness, you just can't.

I get the same feeling when I think of the idea of having someone with a gun in every school.We have a State Trooper in each of our highschoools (at least in Indian River S.D.) That nut job in Connecticut came in with automatic weapon blowing out the glass. Supposed our officier who was seated in his office had run down the hall with his revolver. Also suppose that the JROTC Unit had automatic weapon available to it's instructors. They would really have to be secured some that they couldn't be grabbed by some nutcase. Just thoughts.

[motherof3]

LN I agree. We have state troopers in our high schools and our middle schools around here. And even with that I still think that if someone was bound and determined to go into those schools and kill kids/staff they are going to find a way to do it. When someone is to the point that those actions are reasonable in their mind then you are dealing with stark raving insanity/madness/evil whatever you want to call it. And IMO you can not plan for something like that. Yes, by all means do everything possible to make the building safe. But some of the stuff people are throwing out there as "preventative measures" is just stupid and a waste of money when God knows our schools don't have enough to even educate the kids in some areas. IMO when we let madmen and their actions rule our lives and our thinking then we have already lost. Unfortunately life has horrors, most if not all, perpetrated by humans.

[cracker]

I remember my parents telling me about the "duck and cover" drills when they were in school. I think these special panic exits would be as effective against a gunman as ducking and covering would be against an a-bomb. Besides, like mo3 said, schools already have emergency exits.

[childOfLacroix]

I think whether to place armed guards in schools and/or allowing teachers to carry is a decision to be made strictly at the local level. Not only would this idea not fly in every community, but I shudder at the notion of the feds--the same ones who gave us the out-of-control TSA--running a national program. School districts should neither be forced to nor barred from hiring armed guards or allowing teachers to carry.

I agree that armed guards wouldn't be a panacea, and that there is no way to "plan for" or "prevent" every single possible eventuality. People seem to not want to admit that luck--random chance--exists, but it does. Sometimes it works out in our favor, sometimes not.

The problem with "panic exits" in every classroom is that it would do absolutely nothing for students in rooms above the first floor of a building. This project would be a colossal waste of money. The emergency exits that already exist suffice.

[Chase]

the CT shooter had a semi-automatic rifle and handguns, as in you pull the trigger it fires, but you can pull the trigger rapidly and it fire rapidly.

state troopers carry 9mm, semi-automatic pistols. and they train and train and train.

i would put my money on a state trooper with a semi-auto pistol over a crazy person with a semi-auto rifle any day.

[EpicWin]

state troopers carry 9mm, semi-automatic pistols. and they train and train and train.

Actually Delaware State Police carry Sig Sauer P229's in .357 sig.

[Chase]

I always thought police issue was glock 19's...that's what I heard, wasnt positive though.

still, semi-auto though.

[max1]

Dave Lawson is a straight up kinda guy, I cant believe hes the one who came up with this idea.

[Curly]

I don't think any cop carries a revolver nowadays.

Panic bars on school doors is a law already isn't it? How is this any different?

Lawson, a former state trooper, said that emergency doors that open only from the inside might be the safest way to leave a classroom if there's an attack, fire or bomb threat.

If a bomb goes off, the whole building becomes an exit.